What size room is the AeraMax 90 for?

A bedroom or office up to about 110 square feet, which is a 10 by 11 foot room.

In a room that size it does a good job. Its air quality light goes from blue to red as the air gets worse, so you can see when it has work to do.

Some store listings say it covers 100 to 200 square feet. Plan on the low end. A 200 square foot living room is too big for it.

For a room that big, the AeraMax 190 is the next size up, and the AeraMax 290 is bigger still.

Is the AeraMax 90 discontinued?

Fellowes no longer sells it on its own site, but a few dealers still have it. Paper Machines and Clary Business Machines both had it in stock for about $160, and Staples sells it in stores only.

Fellowes still sells both of its filters, so if you already own one, it is easy to keep running.

What should you buy instead?

For a small room, the Levoit Core 300-P. We have had one since April 2021, and I would buy it again.

It is quiet. You can barely hear it, and there is definitely less dust in the room since it went in. It is very easy to live with, and it looks sleek, too.

We bought it for our bedroom first, and it turned out to be too small for that room. Now it is in our home office, which is smaller, and it suits that room.

That is just our house, though. AHAM certifies the Core 300 for a room up to 222 square feet, about twice what the AeraMax 90 is sized for. Measure your room before you buy either one.

My wife did not like the filters. They cannot be washed, so she kept having to buy new ones.

It costs under $100. My Levoit Core 300 review covers the rooms it suits and what its filters cost.

Which filters does it take, and how often?

A True HEPA filter, part 9287001, once a year, and a carbon filter, part 9324001, every three months. The carbon filters come four to a pack, so one HEPA filter and one pack of carbon filters will last you a year.

You do not have to keep track. The filter lights on the unit turn red when it is time for a change.

Buy them at Home Depot, where a year of filters is about $40. Buy both from Fellowes and it costs about twice that. Staples and Walmart carry them too.

The AeraMax 100 and DX5 are the same machine as the 90, so a filter sold for either one fits yours. The filters for the 90, 190 and 290 are all in my replacement filter guide, by part number.

Why do the filter lights stay on after a change?

Push both new filters in all the way, then reset the filter lights. If the lights still stay on, take the filters out, seat them again and repeat the reset.

The reset steps are on page 10 of the AeraMax 90 manual.

Should you turn the ionizer off?

You do not have to. Turn it off if the faint ticking bothers you, or if you would rather not run an ionizer at all.

The ionizer, which Fellowes calls PlasmaTRUE, comes switched on. To turn it off, hold the PlasmaTRUE icon for five seconds.

The ticking is normal. Fellowes’ manual says it means the ionizer is working.

The most ozone Fellowes found from an AeraMax in testing was 4.0 parts per billion, far below the 50 it calls acceptable. By those numbers, it is fine to leave on in a bedroom.

The fine print

Three room sizes. Fellowes’ manual says 90 square feet, AHAM certified it for 100 square feet in 2023, and AHAM’s formula, 1.55 times the smoke CADR of 71, gives 110. Store listings say 100 to 200. Go by 110 at most.

The manual prints older figures. Its clean air numbers, 68 for smoke and 75 for pollen, come from AHAM’s 2020 certification. AHAM’s 2023 figures are 71 for smoke and 87 for pollen, and those are the ones on this page.

One ozone figure for the whole line. Fellowes gives the same ozone result for every AeraMax, not one for the 90 alone, and I found no independent measurement.

California buyers. Fellowes says every AeraMax is UL certified, and two dealers list the 90 as CARB certified, but I did not find it in CARB’s register of certified air cleaners. If you live in California, check CARB’s list for the model before you buy.

Where to go next

Questions

Read how I check numbers.